Monthly Archives: September 2012

Burial above ground in a magnificent mausoleum is for the happy few, but the ordinary have to be content with a vault in the wall, neatly stacked in Bonaria death rows at the oldest cemetery of Cagliari.. It is like living in a mansion or in a flat; you either afford a large footprint or are content tiptoeing. At least at Bonaria cemetery you rest in peace for ever, while at other cemeteries you get evicted if the rent is not paid in time. This reminds me of my aunt telling us that she had arranged for a really luxury grave, allowing her to go home in the weekends. Continue reading →

Early in the morning, the beach of Cagliari is still deserted and photographing from a lifeguard watch tower gives a good view on Poetto beach sunrise. The name Poetto may be derived from Poet, after the Aragon Tower (‘Torre del Poeta’) on the promontory in the west build during the Spanish occupation, or it comes from the many wells over there that are called ‘pohuet’ in Catalan, or maybe it stems from the port below, which is called ‘Puerto’ in Spanish and ‘Puettu’ in local dialect. Continue reading →

Early Sunday morning you can still take pictures of an older Cagliari without cars, long time gone. Armed with the proper lens the result can be a ‘Cagliari Domenica Allucinante’ (Incredible Cagliari Sunday). Cars are the pest for the historic part of the city. You will find them everywhere and most of the time they are double parked too. Cagliaritani tend to abandon their cars a few steps away from their destiny. Switching on the hazard lights, blinking means: Continue reading →

Once a year, when summer ends and schools begin in Cagliari, children are reminded of the ancient games, the dices, the cards and the boards, as they play in park. As children we invent our spontaneous plays and then play according to age-old rules. So we learn about competition (Agon) , chance (Alea), simulation (Mimicry) and vertigo (Ilinx). As long as we do not forget playing we are Homo ludens and only then we also remain Homo sapiens, like the saying goes: ‘We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing’. Besides, you really learn to know yourself and others during play, like Bette Davis once remarked: ‘I will play with it first and tell you what it is later’ Continue reading →

Filu ‘e ferru is a distillate of the skins and pips of grapes, produced illegally using an alembic, which should be hidden by burial and later retrieved by looking for an attached iron wire sticking above ground (Filu ‘e ferru).Continue reading →